Installing, Configuring, and Testing WebLogic Server 12c Developer Zip Distribution in NetBeans

Overview

    Purpose

    This tutorial covers how to install Oracle WebLogic Server 12c (12.1.1) developer zip file distribution on Windows and configure it as a Java EE Application Server in NetBeans. 

    Also covers how to test the WebLogic Server installation by deploying a Web application based on JSF and JPA entities.

    Time to Complete

    Approximately 45 minutes

    Introduction

    Oracle WebLogic Server 12c is an application server for building and deploying enterprise Java EE applications and it is now available for download. The zip distribution for development offers Java EE 6 Full Profile development; it includes WebLogic Server only.

    With NetBeans IDE you can create web applications and deploy them to the Oracle WebLogic Server.

    Scenario

    In this tutorial, you perform the following:

    • Download WebLogic Server (WLS) 12c developer zip file and extract the contents
    • Set up environment variables as required
    • Run the installation configuration script
    • Set up WLS environment
    • Create a new WLS domain
    • Register the Oracle WebLogic Server with the NetBeans IDE
    • Open the Admin Console
    • Start Java DB
    • Use the sample database and generate the JPA entities from the database
    • Generate JSF pages from the Entities
    • Deploy the application to WebLogic Server

    Prerequisites

    • Download and install Java JDK 7 from this link.
    • Download and install NetBeans IDE 7.2 from this link.

Downloading WebLogic Zip File and Extracting the Contents

      In this section you will download the development zip file and unzip the contents in a directory. 

    Open a browser and type the following URL:

    http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/middleware/weblogic/downloads/index.html

    Click Download File for "Zip for Windows x86, Linux x86, Mac OS X", under Oracle Fusion Middleware Software Downloads section.

    You need to Accept Licence Agreement before you can download the file.

    Windows, Linux, Mac OS X and Generic Installer (for use with 64-bit JVMs) are also options to download in addition to the developer zip file.

    Create the D:\weblogic\wls directory in your computer.

    Unzip the downloaded file wls1211_dev.zip into the wls directory folder.

Setting Up the Environment

    In this section, you will set up the three environment variables needed: JAVA_HOME, MW_HOME and JAVA_VENDOR. Also, you will run the installation script and create the WebLogic Server domain.

    Setting Up the Three Environment Variables

      Verify the path and the folder name of your JDK 7 installation in your computer. Normally it is under C:\Program Files\Java\ :


      Your JDK 7 installation folder name could include a build version: jdk1.7.0_<build version>. You will need to type the full folder name when setting JAVA_HOME two steps further.

      Open a command window.  (Start>Run>cmd).

      Type the following command to go to the D:\weblogic\wls folder, which is where you unzipped the developer zip file:

       pushd D:\weblogic\wls

      Type the following commands to set the three environment variables.

      set JAVA_HOME=C:\PROGRA~1\Java\jdk1.7.0

      set MW_HOME=D:\weblogic\wls

      set JAVA_VENDOR=Sun

      Note: The JAVA_HOME value cannot contain any spaces, and that is why PROGRA~1 is used as the PROGRAM FILES directory short name.

      To discover the short name of your Program Files folder you can use the dir /X command

      Keep the Command Prompt window opened for the next step. This is in order to maintain the environment variables.

    Running the Installation Configuration Script

      In MW_HOME(D:\weblogic\wls), execute configure.cmd to launch the installation configuration script.

      Type the following command to set up the WLS environment in the current shell :

      %MW_HOME%\wlserver\server\bin\setWLSEnv.cmd

      Keep the Command Prompt window opened for the next step.

    Creating the Domain

      Before you can develop and run WebLogic, you must first create a WebLogic Server domain, which is the basic administration unit:

      Create the domain folder.

      Type the following command:

      mkdir D:\weblogic\domain

      Move to the recently created domain folder:

      cd D:\weblogic\domain

      Run the following command to set up the domain on this folder:

      %JAVA_HOME%\bin\java.exe weblogic.Server %JAVA_OPTIONS% -Xmx1024m -XX:MaxPermSize=350m

      Because you are using JDK 7 you might encounter PermGen errors, and because of that you are using a MaxPermSize value of 350 to avoid it. Otherwise you can use the default of 128m:

      %JAVA_HOME%\bin\java.exe weblogic.Server %JAVA_OPTIONS% -Xmx1024m -XX:MaxPermSize=128m

       3.1. Answer the installation questions:

      • Create a default configuration and boot? y
      • Enter username to boot Weblogic server: weblogic
      • Enter password to boot Weblogic server: welcome1

              WebLogic finishes loading and displays <The server started in RUNNING mode.> in the output window.

      There is additional information at the end of this tutorial about using 64-Bit JDK and using GUI mode when creating the domain.

      Press Ctrl + C to stop the WebLogic Server.

      Last command besides configuring the domain also started the WebLogic Server. However this is not the normal procedure to start the server. Following step shows how to start the WebLogic Server from the command line.

      Start the WebLogicServer by executing the following command, which is provided in the domain folder:

      startWebLogic.cmd

      5.1. Press Ctrl + C To shut the WebLogic Server down.

Configuring WebLogic Server in NetBeans

    This section will show you how to register the WebLogic Server with the NetBeans IDE.

    Start NetBeans. Open the Services Window (Window -> Services).

    Expand the Servers folder - GlassFish Server is included with NetBeans Enterprise Edition and installed automatically.


    Right-click the Servers folder. Select Add Server...

    Select Oracle WebLogic Server. Click Next.

    Enter D:\weblogic\wls\wlserver as the Server Location. Click Next.

    Verify that the Domain location is D:\weblogic\domain.

    Enter weblogic for username and welcome1 for password.      

    Click Finish.

    NetBeans has created in Services tab the WebLogic Server instance.

    From the Services tab, right-click the Oracle WebLogic Server under the Servers node. Click Start.

    WebLogic finishes loading and displays <The server started in RUNNING mode.> in the output window.

    Now you can Start, Stop and Deploy Web Applications using WebLogic Server in the NetBeans IDE.

    Right-click the Oracle WebLogic Server. Click View Admin Console.

    The Admin Console enables you to administer the WebLogic Server.

    Alternatively, you can open a web browser and enter the URL http://localhost:7001/console

    On the Admin Console, enter weblogic for username and welcome1 for password.



    With the Admin Console you can administer your WebLogic Server

Testing your WebLogic Server Installation

    In this section, you will test your WebLogic Server installation by deploying a Web application using JSF and JPA entities from the sample database.

    Opening Sample Database

      In NetBeans, in the Services tab, expand the Databases folder.

      Right-click Java DB. Click Start Server.

      An Output Window opens and indicate that Apache Derby Network Server 10.8.1.2 started.

      Right-click the connection titled jdbc:derby://localhost:1527/sample [app on APP]. Click Connect.

      Expand the connection. Expand APP.

      This is the name of the schema for the sample database, it contains all of the tables, views and stored procedures associated with this schema.

      Expand the Tables.

      Right-click CUSTOMER. Select View Data.

      This is one of the ways to perform SQL queries directly on the database tables. In the SQL Command Window that opened, you can execute other queries as well.

    Creating a Java EE Web Application Project

      Click File -> New Project.

      Select Java Web from Categories and Web Application from Projects. Click Next.

      Enter JPASampleTest as the Project Name.

      Set the Project Location to D:\NetBeansProjects or the folder path that you want for your NetBeans projects.

      Click Next.

      Verify that Oracle WebLogic Server is selected as the Server.

      Verify that Java EE version is Java EE 6 Web.

      Check the box for Enable Contexts and Dependency Injection.

      Uncheck the default box to Set Source Level to 6.

      Click Next.

      Select JavaServer Faces as the Framework. Click Finish.

    Adding Entities Generated from the Sample Database to the Project

      The sample database is provided with every NetBeans installation. It contains a number of tables populated with data.

      Right-click the project. Select New -> Other.

      Choose Persistence from Categories and Entity Classes from Database as the file type. Click Next.

      Click the Data Source drop-down list. Select New Data Source.

      Enter jdbc/sampleDB as the JNDI Name.

      Select jdbc:derby//localhost:1527/sample [app on APP] as the Database connection.

      Click OK.

      Click Add All to move all of the tables from the Available Tables column to the Selected Tables column. Click Next.

      Enter com.example.entity as the package name.

      Uncheck Generate JAXB Annotations. JAXB is not used on this example.

      Click Finish.

      NetBeans generates the Entity classes and Named queries for each of the tables in the database.

    Reviewing the Entity Classes Created

      Open the Customer.java entity file located under the com.example.entity folder:


      At the top of the class is the @Entity annotation that indicates this is an entity for the CUSTOMER table.

      Named queries contain Java Persistence Query Language statements, which look like SQL commands, one for every combination of query of the table:


      The class declares a fields for each of the table's columns, using @Id to define the primary key column:

      Near the bottom of the field list, there are some relationship annotations named @ManytoOne, which define the relationship between this entity and other entities. MicroMarket and DiscountCode are two examples of @ManytoOne annotations:

      The rest of the class contains getter/setter methods.

    Adding JSF View Pages and Supporting Classes to the Project

      Right-click the project. Select New -> Other.

      Select JavaServer Faces from Categories and JSF Pages from Entity Classes from File Types. Click Next.

      Click Add All to move the Available Entity classes column to the Selected Entity classes column. Click Next.

      Modify the package name of the Session Bean Package to com.example.ejb.

      Modify the package name of the JSF classes to com.example.bean.

      Click Finish. 

      NetBeans generates a set of view pages under the Web Pages folder, with each group of view functionality pages (view, edit, create, list) in a folder named by the table they support.

      The com.example.bean folder contains the generated view/controller classes (JSF managed beans) for each of the tables in the sample database.

      The com.example.ejb package contains the session beans that perform the work of getting the data out of and into the database using EJB Session beans. These classes are named with Facade - for example, CustomerFacade. The class uses the facade design pattern - basically, this class represent the "face" of the Customer entity to the CustomerController class:

    Running the Project and Testing the Code

      Run the project.

      Right-click the project. Select Run.

      This will take awhile to compile and build the classes, to copy the JDBC drivers to the appropriate folder in WebLogic server and to deploy the project and start the Web browser.

      Test the Code.

      Click the Show All Customer Items link.

      2.1. Experiment wit the View, Edit and Destroy links on the far right side of the table:

      This is a quick way to check that WebLogic Server is operating properly and can connect to the database through JPA.

Additional Information on Creating Domains

    If you get the following error while creating the domain:
    <Error><Security><BEA-090783><Server is Running in Development Mode and Native Library(terminalio) to read the password securely from commandline is not found.>

    Then you are using a 64-bit JDK. You can either switch to a 32-bit JDK or change four environment variables in the %MW_HOME%\wlserver\server\common\bin\commEnv.cmd file. Find the following lines in the file and change them as shown:

    set JAVA_USE_64BIT=true
    set WL_USE_X86DLL=false
    set WL_USE_IA64DLL=false
    set WL_USE_AMD64DLL=true

    You might need to close the current Command Prompt window and open a new one, then set up the three environment variables and execute setWLSEnv.cmd again.

    You can also create the domain by invoking the GUI configuration in the Command Prompt window:

    %MW_HOME%/wlserver/common/bin/config.cmd

    You need to set up the three environment variables JAVA_HOME, MW_HOME and JAVA_VENDOR to execute this command. You can extend an existing WebLogic Domain using the Configuration Wizard.

Summary

    In this tutorial, you have learned how to:

    • Run the WebLogic Server 12c installation configuration script
    • Set up WebLogic Server environment
    • Create a new WebLogic Server domain
    • Register the Oracle WebLogic Server with the NetBeans IDE
    • Test your WebLogic Server installation by deploying a Web application that uses JSF and JPA entities.

    Resources

    Credits

    • Curriculum Developer: Edgar Martinez
    • Other Contributors: Tom Mcginn

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